Sure, like much of the album, Rihanna is mining her past glories all over again, but she does it with such swagger, such enthusiasm, that the end result is a definitive thrill-ride of a success.

It manages to avoid the pitfalls of creative redundancy and combines a classic sound with a contemporary twist to perfect effect.

At once understated and innovative, her often-crazed genius makes this album, different from what went before yet in its way a product of it, a pleasure to listen to.

All things considered, this is an impressive debut album from Rizzle Kicks.

It's the perfect end to a blissfully gorgeous album--one that showcases Ane Brun as being at the forefront of the new wave of Scandinavian pop music.

Here I Am is the epitome of cheap and cheerful R&B, 40 minutes of precision-tuned pre-club glossiness--without a doubt perfectly serviceable.

This, a musical Indian summer, pushes them forward again.

These dated trance beats and chunks of grime tinged R&B aren't going to earn him any new fans, so he's flipped the default switch; if in doubt, get a bit naughty.

Last Summer pulls off the impressive feat of being luxuriantly listenable while retaining Friedberger's avant-garde roots.

The Year Of Hibernation is a powerful bit of emotional alchemy, arresting and enchanting in its naked simplicity, and Powers has accomplished a tour de force far beyond his bedroom walls or his 22 years.

Sullivan's intelligent use of layers and loops create a phenomenally dense but remarkably accessible soundscape as the band constantly ebb and flow between bombast and introspection.

It's absorbing and enchanting without having to resort to formulaic song structures, pop thrills or radio-friendly catchiness.

Out In The Light is a blustery, at times thrillingly unstable record, and comfortably matches the standards Pierszalowski achieved with Port O'Brien.

It contains nothing noteworthy, nothing to grab the listener's attention, and will have few going back for repeated listens.

More melancholic than mechanical, Severant is a testament to the strength of the human imagination.

It could be argued that Soul Time! itself is nothing new within the Dap-Kings catalogue, made up as it is of old tunes (Longer And Stronger, for instance, was written to celebrate Jones's 50th birthday in 2006), but these favourite oldies are collected here for the first time, and that's really something.

It might not break any new ground but there'll be few albums this year as enjoyable as this one.

Lyrically, gone is the amusing petulance, and in its place are tales that tug on the heart strings by creating patchwork mind pictures with words. And when Los Campesinos! hit that sweet spot, the results are stunning.

The album dips when they try too hard not to be pop.

He could be a genius or he could be a lunatic; either way, one of modern filmdom's most debated and alluring figures has made an arresting album that successfully translates his visual surrealism to a new medium.

Sure, it may be playful, uncomplicated and slightly honey-glazed but there is plenty here for music lovers of all ages to enjoy.

It's an accomplished release which, while throwing the occasional nod to other artists of the same genre (M83, Saint Etienne), nonetheless maintains a sense of uniqueness and identity that remains prevalent throughout its duration.

This is easily the most satisfying and rewarding set of songs that Cox has written in any of his projects and it'll be a tough ask to top it.

There is also a notably darker, murkier imperative at the heart of Original Colours and the results are sometimes a little introverted.

The music here definitely works best when this spirit of interaction is at the forefront, with potentially disparate musical ideas serving to complement and enhance each other.

Throughout the record, Steve Mackey's production shimmers both warmly and vibrantly, sounding at once like a throwback from the 1980s and futuristic.

Lost In The Glare is a wonderfully cohesive album of instrumental-avant-Americana.

Tomorrow's World appeals to fans of Erasure's later albums just as much as it appeases those who swooned along to A Little Respect in 1988.